Sprint PCS to AFRICA?!

[farnlc]

Just curious why people are contacting me to send my phone to Africa whenever I put up a phone on ebay. Obviously I know this is a scam, but whats the point? If it is actually received in Africa, what could they possibly do with it?

[Matt]

Wirelessly posted (SHARP-TM-150/1.0 Profile/MIDP-1.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.0 UP.Browser/6.2.2.6.c.2.102 (GUI) MMP/1.0)

Maybe there is a leopard who wants to haul it up a tree.

[payasa]

You do know that people live there don't you? My uncle has lived there for over 30 years. I do believe that he has a cell phone.

[Ted]

whats the deal, is there no CDMA coverage in africa? who do the giraffes use for a carrier? J/K

[farnlc]

yeah, people live there. certanly no coverage for sprint. Whats the catch? Why do they want these phones?

[mcurtiss1970]

there's CDMA in Africa, so theoretically it could be activated there.

[Neosabre]

This is a WELL KNOWN scam. They ask you to send the phone and issue you a fraudulent cashier check or a fraudent Western Union BidPay e-mail. If anyone is ordering ANYTHING to be shipped to Africa and are sending ANY KIND of check/money order, make sure you receive the check/Money order first, and make sure it clears your bank first (in fact, make sure it is a valid check/money order). If they pay via PAYPAL, then you are covered. Ask them to pay via PAYPAL ONLY.

[madsexy]

This is a WELL KNOWN scam. They ask you to send the phone and issue you a fraudulent cashier check or a fraudent Western Union BidPay e-mail. If anyone is ordering ANYTHING to be shipped to Africa and are sending ANY KIND of check/money order, make sure you receive the check/Money order first, and make sure it clears your bank first (in fact, make sure it is a valid check/money order). If they pay via PAYPAL, then you are covered. Ask them to pay via PAYPAL ONLY.

Paypal only to anything overseas. Same scams coming from some Asian/Middle Eastern countries.

On the other hand, I know for a fact that phones can be unlocked and activated overseas as long as they use the same technology. My brother usually uses his old phones from here overseas.

[brooklynyte]

As a rule I dont ship ANYTHING before the payment clears no matter what form of payment, I'm sure its perfectly understandable and if people disagree they just dont bid, I have it posted clearly. Theres another scam at least once a month I get an email asking me to wire money to another contry an d they will repay me with interest cause theyre stuck in some other country on vacation. I wouldnt want to meet the types of people who fall for this stuff.

[Jaggrey]

Even if it clears and all that they can still recall the payment. This happened to my friend and now he has a negative PayPal balance. He just doesn't use that account anymore.

[dagaul]

Even if it clears and all that they can still recall the payment. This happened to my friend and now he has a negative PayPal balance. He just doesn't use that account anymore.

There are people who send paypal payments and do a chargeback once they know you have posted it

[triggarhappy]

Are Americans looked upon as idiots? DOes a country like Africa and Italy and other foreign places get together and to come up with a plan to scam us. Its always a particular country we must watch for either on ebay or through email...lol Its so funny, we are like the slow kid you took advantage of in elementry school...

[DjDynasty]

Are Americans looked upon as idiots? DOes a country like Africa and Italy and other foreign places get together and to come up with a plan to scam us. Its always a particular country we must watch for either on ebay or through email...lol Its so funny, we are like the slow kid you took advantage of in elementry school...
YEP!

As An American traveling all over Europe & Asia, I was spit at, kicked, luggage lost, Anytime I said "What f*ing gives? I'm Canadian!" they would apologize, offer money, discounts, etc! So yes... the world DOES hate us. People are meaner to us now after Iraq than they were pre-9-11. And even post 9-11 comments would start "Oh, Are you American, 9-11 was such a tradegy" and I would say I'm Canadian "Oh, Couldn't have happened to a nicer country, that's what they get for being arrogant"


I'm Dual Citizen, But I never travel on my US Passport. I use the US passport to get back into the US from Canada, After making all my international flights from Toronto or Vancover.

[jefjohnson16]

Cool

[EeZeEpEe]

Not hating or anything but I find it funny how people bring back 8 month old threads. :lol:

[Matt]

It is funny and I still like my leopard idea.

[diannnoeora]

YEP!

As An American traveling all over Europe & Asia, I was spit at, kicked, luggage lost, Anytime I said "What f*ing gives? I'm Canadian!" they would apologize, offer money, discounts, etc! So yes... the world DOES hate us. People are meaner to us now after Iraq than they were pre-9-11. And even post 9-11 comments would start "Oh, Are you American, 9-11 was such a tradegy" and I would say I'm Canadian "Oh, Couldn't have happened to a nicer country, that's what they get for being arrogant"


I'm Dual Citizen, But I never travel on my US Passport. I use the US passport to get back into the US from Canada, After making all my international flights from Toronto or Vancover.

All I can say is, You've got to consider the source and know the motivation. I think it's less that we're "arrogant", and more that they're jealous and insecure and taught from childhood to hate.

[EeZeEpEe]

It is funny and I still like my leopard idea.
HAHAHA...:laughing:

[scotsboyuk]

All I can say is, You've got to consider the source and know the motivation. I think it's less that we're "arrogant", and more that they're jealous and insecure and taught from childhood to hate.

I can't speak for Asians, but I can speak for Europeans and with respect that really is not the case at all for most Europeans. In fact it is that sort of attitude that causes people to have a poor view of Americans.

What exactly do we have to be jealous of? The only thing I can possibly think of is that Europeans are no longer the dominant force in the world. If this is what you mean then you would be very much mistaken. Most Europeans have no wish for global power in that respect, we have already gone through that phase in our history and it brought us little but misery. To use my own country as an example; we used to rule a quarter of the planet and in relative terms were more powerful than America is now. Yet you would be hard pressed to find much popular support for a return to that state of affairs (if it were even possible).

What exactly do we have to be insecure about? My anscestors lived on this island more than 6,500 years before the U.S. was founded. We have had a very long time to establish our identity and and character. I don't see many Europeans questioning their identities.

Europeans are not perfect, far from it, but we are certainly not taught to hate others. If you actually stopped to think about it for a moment you would perhaps see that with almost no exceptions the world as a whole has a negative view of America at the moment. It is the attitude that you display that helps to foster that view. I have no problem with anyone on this forum (including yourself) and most of you are Americans. I do not particuarly like the American President, but I do not equate him with Americans as a whole nor do I label Amerians according to his actions or seek to demonise Americans because I do not wish to look at my own country's failings.

I am quite sure that some Europeans do intensely dislike America and treat Americans poorly, but the vast majority do not. The intensely arrogant attitude you display actually causes people to react in a negative manner and pushes them further away from appreciating the many good things Americans do in the world. It is rather sad because America is a great country and yet the attitude displayed by some of its citizens gives it such a bad name and like with so many things the negative voices tend to be the loudest and those are the ones that are heard first.

[scirio]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone SCP-5500/US/1.0) NetFront/3.0 MMP/2.0)

Youre thinking too hard man. africa is some guys house or apartment

[diannnoeora]

I can't speak for Asians, but I can speak for Europeans and with respect that really is not the case at all for most Europeans. In fact it is that sort of attitude that causes people to have a poor view of Americans.

(Aren't you claiming one thing and then claiming the exact opposite?)

What exactly do we have to be jealous of? The only thing I can possibly think of is that Europeans are no longer the dominant force in the world. If this is what you mean then you would be very much mistaken. Most Europeans have no wish for global power in that respect, we have already gone through that phase in our history and it brought us little but misery. To use my own country as an example; we used to rule a quarter of the planet and in relative terms were more powerful than America is now. Yet you would be hard pressed to find much popular support for a return to that state of affairs (if it were even possible).

What exactly do we have to be insecure about? My anscestors lived on this island more than 6,500 years before the U.S. was founded. We have had a very long time to establish our identity and and character. I don't see many Europeans questioning their identities.

(Where do you think our ancestors were 6,500 years ago? Mostly running around that island with yours.)

Europeans are not perfect, far from it, but we are certainly not taught to hate others. If you actually stopped to think about it for a moment you would perhaps see that with almost no exceptions the world as a whole has a negative view of America at the moment. It is the attitude that you display that helps to foster that view. I have no problem with anyone on this forum (including yourself) and most of you are Americans. I do not particuarly like the American President, but I do not equate him with Americans as a whole nor do I label Amerians according to his actions or seek to demonise Americans because I do not wish to look at my own country's failings.

I am quite sure that some Europeans do intensely dislike America and treat Americans poorly, but the vast majority do not. The intensely arrogant attitude you display actually causes people to react in a negative manner and pushes them further away from appreciating the many good things Americans do in the world. It is rather sad because America is a great country and yet the attitude displayed by some of its citizens gives it such a bad name and like with so many things the negative voices tend to be the loudest and those are the ones that are heard first.



You seem to have thought fairly carefully about what you had to say, so I will do the same and try to get my point across to you. I hope you will show me the same respect I am showing you and not just make assumptions as you did about my previous post.

1. I should have clarified better, but the title of the thread is about Africa. When I said that they are taught from childhood to hate, I was referring to those nations, mostly in Africa, where that seems to be pervasive.

2. Jealousy: again I do not say that about Europeans. Yes, various parts of Europe, especially Great Britain, were great empire builders. The sun never set on your empire. Being or not being the dominant world power has nothing to do with what I was talking about. I'm talking about our freedom to speak our minds without fear of being killed or thrown into prison. I'm talking about our standard of living. I'm talking about our ability to care about anyone and everyone, anywhere in the world and wanting to help in whatever way is needed. I think that Great Britain, (please correct me if I'm wrong) is pretty much equal to us in those things.

3. Insecurity: not speaking about Europe, except in one very small area, which I don't even want to get into. Insecurity refers to those nations and peoples who feel they should be the ones to make all the choices and want to force their viewpoint on everyone else. The ones that refuse to allow women to think and have opinions of their own. The ones that believe that women are chatel. When a life style or system of govenment is forced onto all the citizens of a nation without any choice, it's probably because the forcers know they wouldn't get their own way if the citizens were given a choice. That, sir, is PURE arrogance.


One little question, scotsboyuk. Where do you think Americans came from? Honestly, we really did not come from under a rock. Most of us count our heritage as a very important part of who we are. MOST of us are from European stock. My heritage is French, Irish, Welsh, Scots, English and several tribes of American Indian. Yes, for me, the most important thing is being an American citizen, but each of my ancestors that came here from Europe are people I am proud to be descended from.

As far as attitudes go, I intensely dislike arrogance. Yes, I do see a lot of it here and it is very unattractive. However, I have seen a huge amount of arrogance in the Europeans I have dealt with. Mostly because we are upstarts. :rolleyes: (Just to clarify, [other than what I perceive to be your extremely arrogant attitude in your post], I haven't received that from people I've met from the UK.) Nevertheless, you are incorrect in reading that in me. In fact, your post appears to show far more arrogance in judging me and my attitude or lack thereof. Regardless, I'm not going to demonize you because you judged me. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you did not give me, and assume that it is just in my perception of how you are saying what you are saying. Perhaps we should chalk it up to cultural differences.

I would, however, ask that you try not to make such sweeping assumptions in the future. You said, "the intensely arrogant attitude you display..." and "the attitude displayed by some of its citizens gives it such a bad name..." What is really sad is that so many people make assumptions about us that are actually showing their own negative attitudes and arrogance.

[scotsboyuk]

I am still reasonably new on this forum so I should perhaps warn you all that I have a tendency to post extremely long posts when I get going. :p

(Aren't you claiming one thing and then claiming the exact opposite?)


Not at all, notice how I used the word 'most'. As I said in my last post there are some who do not like America/Americans and this view comes about through two main sources 1.)Bush/neocons and 2.) the blame/castigate the foreigner culture.


(Where do you think our ancestors were 6,500 years ago? Mostly running around that island with yours.)


Quite possibly, but then you are not British or European, you live in a country, which was created barely three hundred years ago and is still very much finding its place in the world. America is still establishing its own identity and culture seperate from other nations; it is still in the process of establishing what it actually means to be an American. The 20th century alone saw America go through several different roles and experience various identities and lay down a framework for an American culture independent from Europe.

Your anscestors may very well have been my anscestors for all I know, but you are not surrounded by their legacy today nor does your country actively utilise that charcter or identity. That isn't a criticism, merely an observation.


You seem to have thought fairly carefully about what you had to say, so I will do the same and try to get my point across to you. I hope you will show me the same respect I am showing you and not just make assumptions as you did about my previous post.


Well I must admit that since your post has yet to contain the words 'O'Reilly', 'Coulter' or 'boycott' I don't view you as being some sort of right-wing nut who can't see beyond his front porch. :p (My apologies to Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter fans, but both of them strike me as being completely off their trolly, especially Coulter!)


1. I should have clarified better, but the title of the thread is about Africa. When I said that they are taught from childhood to hate, I was referring to those nations, mostly in Africa, where that seems to be pervasive.


Yes you should have been more clear, since the comment you quoted mentioned Europe and Asia and this was what your comment appeared to address. Even if your comments were directed towards Africa I would still contend them because you would be generalising about a vast group of people who are heterogeneous.

Take South Africa for example, it is made up of numerous different tribes who each have different values and outlooks. That is within just one nation. Where you are likely to find the greatest dislike of America is in Saharan Africa e.g. Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Morrocco. Sub-Saharan Africa quite frankly has so many problems of its own that I doubt whether many of the people there actually care about America or any other country to be honest. That isn't an insult, they have so many immediate problems that worrying about other countries is likely a luxury they cannot afford.

The peoples of the Saharan countries have their reasons for disliking America. Primarily because they are predominantly Muslim and feel empathy with their fellow Muslims in the Middle East who are suffering. Now I am not going into the rights and wrongs of the situation(s) in the Middle East, but many of these people will see fellow Muslims suffering and feel empathy towards them and they see the people who cause this suffering as either Americans or American allies. I am not saying that these people are correct in their dislike of America, but when one looks to understand the root of it one can perhaps see why they would dislike America.


2. Jealousy: again I do not say that about Europeans. Yes, various parts of Europe, especially Great Britain, were great empire builders. The sun never set on your empire. Being or not being the dominant world power has nothing to do with what I was talking about. I'm talking about our freedom to speak our minds without fear of being killed or thrown into prison. I'm talking about our standard of living. I'm talking about our ability to care about anyone and everyone, anywhere in the world and wanting to help in whatever way is needed. I think that Great Britain, (please correct me if I'm wrong) is pretty much equal to us in those things.


Again your comments were put in such a way i.e. in reply to a post concerned with Europe and Asia, that this is how your comments came across. It would have been better I think to have clarified your position more clearly.

Well I don't think Europeans would be jealous of Americans in those respects since Europeans (Western Europeans at least) tend to have a higher standard of living than Americans. Mind you this can be debated since it depends upon the criteria used to define the standard of living. Western Europeans tend to live longer on average with fewer infant mortalities and there is less poverty with a smaller gap between rich and poor. There also tends to be better social welfare than in America with free medical treatment being provided across the EU so that one doesn't have to pay for it no matter where one is within the EU. However, Europe pays the price for this in so far as these schemes tend to cost a great deal of money so taxes tend to be higher and the cost of living is more.


3. Insecurity: not speaking about Europe, except in one very small area, which I don't even want to get into. Insecurity refers to those nations and peoples who feel they should be the ones to make all the choices and want to force their viewpoint on everyone else. The ones that refuse to allow women to think and have opinions of their own. The ones that believe that women are chatel. When a life style or system of govenment is forced onto all the citizens of a nation without any choice, it's probably because the forcers know they wouldn't get their own way if the citizens were given a choice. That, sir, is PURE arrogance.


Well yes I would take your point and even agree with it, however, certain parts of your argument here can be applied to America. America does have a history of unilateral action that the international community doesn't always agree with. Most nations are guilty of this at some point, it isn't just America. Where the arogance comes in for me is when people don't realise that and throw accusations at other nations for doing what their own nation does.

I have a feeling I know the 'little' area you speak of (incidentally, if it is the same one I'm thinking of, it is ironically the largest on the continent. :p)


One little question, scotsboyuk. Where do you think Americans came from? Honestly, we really did not come from under a rock. Most of us count our heritage as a very important part of who we are. MOST of us are from European stock. My heritage is French, Irish, Welsh, Scots, English and several tribes of American Indian. Yes, for me, the most important thing is being an American citizen, but each of my ancestors that came here from Europe are people I am proud to be descended from.


It is rather interesting that you should say that old man; why are you proud of that? Do you feel a connection to any of those cultures? Do you share any of their values? How does it affect your life? I am not trying to patronise you, I am genuinely asking. :)

The interesting thing here is that you state that the most important thing is being an American citizen. Here the emphasis is still on the tribe, even if people don't tend to think in those terms anymore. This is why people don't say they are European for the most part and why a united Europe is so difficult. People still think along tribal lines and they define one another in those terms. Most people in Britain will only say they are British to foriegners, within Britain they are Scottish or Manx or English, etc.

Local 'tribes' can be and usually are more important to people than 'national tribes'. A Sicilian is likely to think of himself as being different from other Italians, for example, and likely quite proud of it too. Is this something that would be repeated in the U.S.? Would people put their state identity on par or above their national identity?

[scotsboyuk]

Part II:



As far as attitudes go, I intensely dislike arrogance. Yes, I do see a lot of it here and it is very unattractive. However, I have seen a huge amount of arrogance in the Europeans I have dealt with. Mostly because we are upstarts. :rolleyes: (Just to clarify, [other than what I perceive to be your extremely arrogant attitude in your post], I haven't received that from people I've met from the UK.)


Let's deal with my post first shall we? What you label as 'arrogance' is merely an attempt to point out the reality of the situation as it stands here. I am not one for sugar coating and I said what I mean. If you actually look at my post it explains the current prevalent attitude amongst most Europeans towards America. As you will see I explain my reasoning and do not simply cast aspertions, if you choose to take that as arrogance then that is of course your perogative. If I had wanted to be arrogant then my post would have read quite differently I can assure you.

The reasons why you won't have received much in the way or arrogance from people in the UK is because of the reason I gave in my last post; people do not equate Americans with Bush. As much as Bush is disliked in this country the vast majority don't take that out on Americans in general.

As for 'upstarts' I think this may be an Americanisation more than anything else really. Different Europeans will have different values and some of these will be more or less compatible with American values, which will obviously result in different attitudes. There are also cultural differences, for example, in the South of France it isn't all that uncommon when meeting someone for the first time for them to stare at you and look you up and down. Now in Britain that would be somewhat rude, but there it is acceptable. Equally many in rural France don't use a tablecloth when eating, suggesting using a tablecloth may insinuate that one doesn't think that the table is clean enough to eat from. These sort of differences can have a profound effect upon the way people treat one another.

Of course cultural stereotypes obviously do play their part on both sides, most often in a humorous manner, but also sometimes in a negative context. It should perhaps be notec that, in general, Europeans treat each other the way they treat Americans or anyone else for that matter.

I would be interested to learn what sort of situations you found yourself in, which you considered to be arrogant.


Nevertheless, you are incorrect in reading that in me. In fact, your post appears to show far more arrogance in judging me and my attitude or lack thereof. Regardless, I'm not going to demonize you because you judged me. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you did not give me, and assume that it is just in my perception of how you are saying what you are saying. Perhaps we should chalk it up to cultural differences.


Again it is your perogative to interpret my post as you see fit, if you see arrogance then fair enough, if you don't then fair enough. Of course I apologise for any offence you may have taken. I judged your comments based upon the evidence available at the time, perhaps if you had been clearer or I had checked first then we wouldn't be having this conversation, but then neither of us did those things so there is little point in moaning about it. Perhaps we are both arrogant or perhaps neither of us are? Perhaps we are so far up our respective arses that we just like the sound of our own voices (or sight of our own typing as the case may be)?


I would, however, ask that you try not to make such sweeping assumptions in the future. You said, "the intensely arrogant attitude you display..." and "the attitude displayed by some of its citizens gives it such a bad name..." What is really sad is that so many people make assumptions about us that are actually showing their own negative attitudes and arrogance.

They are hardly sweeping assumptions. The first one is simply making clear my opinion of your comments, just as you stated above that you viewed my comments in a similar light. I did and still do think you made arrogant comments, whether about Europe, Africa or anywhere else really. You offered little to support your viewpoint and made a generalisation in addition to the fact that your comments were vague in relation to the post you were quoting.

I stand by the second point too, the views of some Americans do give America a bad name. When you have people saying that something like 9/11 happened because America has too many homosexuals or allows abortions or ministers saying that foriegn leaders should be assassinated or people insulting other countries because they don't agree with their views then that does give America a bad name. When you have chaps on FOX News insinuating that the London bombings happened because terrorism wasn't taken seriously enough in the UK it gives people a bad impression.

What you will find is that the assumptions most people make about America are that it is a nice country with nice people; that is the general starting point for most people. The bad eggs are the ones who start shifting that stance more towards dislike.

I am quite sure some people do make a negative assumptions about America, but then that is human nature, we are not perfect. What you have to understand is that the 'anti-American crowd' become more fashionable and draw succor from those in America with loud voices who like to spew nonsense. These people feed off of one another, they give each other a reason to exist. There are some who will blame every problem in the world on America and tell you America is awful whilst you have some in America who will tell you that the world will descend into chaos without America and that those who don't share American values are wrong.

In conclusion it is worth repeating that most Europeans do not hate or even dislike America, they may very well dislike various American politicians and public figures, but that doesn't mean they dislike all Americans. What you see as arrogance in my post I do not, I made my point and I stand by it. If you don't see what you said as being arrogant then that's fine too. We shall just have to agree to disagree on those respective comments I think.

Let me finish my apologising for the length of this post, but as I said at the beginning, I do rather enjoy long posts. :p